


Stand By Me

by patriciaselina



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Awkward Romance, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gender or Sex Swap, Genderbending, Ice Cream, Implied Matsuoka Rin/Tachibana Makoto, Implied Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto, K-drama-esque shenanigans, M/M, Miscommunication, Multi, Mutual unreciprocated crushes, POV Third Person Omniscient, Scary Movies, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, eating your feelings, purikura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-06 17:12:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1865844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patriciaselina/pseuds/patriciaselina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>The first thing that Nagisa had said to that: “Rei-chan, that sounds like something off a cheesy rom-com.”</em>
  <br/>
  <em>The first thing that Nagisa had actually <strong>thought</strong> about that: Oh. My. <strong>God</strong>.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [point0k](https://archiveofourown.org/users/point0k/gifts), [aitaikimochi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=aitaikimochi).



> Rei x female Nagisa fic, with my usual bells and whistles: mutually one-sided crushes, silly shenanigans, too much (metaphorical and literal) sweets. I’ve always wanted to write a sappy genderbent fic, so here I am, calling upon all my Kdrama abilities to make this. I hope you like it!
> 
> Title comes from [this song](http://starryangell.blogspot.com/2012/05/shinee-stand-by-me-hangul-romanization.html#more) off the Boys Over Flowers OST.

“...Nagisa-kun,” Rei had said, clearing his throat around the seconds in between his half-eaten ice cream cone and her second one, “Please help me. I need you to be my girlfriend.”

.

.

.

“Rei-chan,” Nagisa trails off, eyes startled and ice cream cone almost dropping clean out of her slackening hand, “Did I just hear you say what I thought I heard?”

Rei only shrugs, pushes up his glasses, and gives his own ice cream cone a tentative lick. This of course leads Nagisa to get lost in thoughts about how her best friend has a very _distracting_ tongue, but those are not good best-friend-thoughts, or _general-patronage_ ones, even, and this is probably why it’s for the best that Nagisa does not have many friends.

“Yes,” Rei says suddenly, shocking Nagisa out of her reverie. “You heard _exactly_ what I had meant to say.”

The first thing that Nagisa says to that: “Rei-chan, that sounds like something off a cheesy rom-com.”

The first thing that Nagisa actually _thought_ about that: _Oh. My. **God**_.

It would been like Christmas and New Year’s and her birthday all at once, but at the same time, she knew it wouldn’t be.

Here’s the contextual notes: Rei is the former track athlete that Nagisa had managed to nag – Gou would use the word “ _charm_ ”, Rin “ _flirt_ ”, but Nagisa would flush red and say those were not her intentions (even if they sort of _were_ ) – into joining the swim team. He wears red glasses and aces all his exams and his butterfly is improving, and somewhere in between the train rides and the swim practices, he had become Nagisa’s best friend.

Most importantly: somewhere in between the time Rei totally rocked those barely-there Speedos, and the time he had told her, in a shy voice, that he thought her breaststroke form was its own kind of beautiful, Rei had become the guy Nagisa fell in love with, and that’s a problem.

That’s a problem, because _now_ Rei’s asking for her help and Nagisa can’t even help him without her treacherous mind wishing he had made the offer in a different situation.

“You see, recently I have found myself to be on the receiving end of...well.” Rei pauses, ponders over semantics, before settling with the words “Attention. _Unwarranted_ attention.”

“So what...” Nagisa pauses. Bites her lip. Her throat feels dry. Her heart somehow finds itself lodged in her throat. “...what do you need me to do? Beat ‘em off with a stick?”

“ _That_ –” Rei trips on his words, stops, and sighs deeply. He was just about to say ‘that would not be beautiful’, but for some reason he can’t bring himself to refer to his best friend with that sentence. So he goes with something his brain deems more believable. “– Nagisa-kun. That would be rather unladylike of you, don’t you think?”

“Pshaw. You know I’ve never been much of a lady, Rei-chan!” Nagisa insists, sloppily inhaling ice cream if only to stop herself from getting into a totally uncalled-for song-and-dance number because _Rei just asked her to be his **girlfriend**_ and fake or not this is something she had always dreamed of in _embarrassing_ amounts. “See?”

Rei, who had already finished his own ice cream cone, clicked his tongue, sighed, and reached for the small plastic of tissues he kept in the back pocket of his uniform slacks. “I keep telling you that you have to stop making a mess of yourself in public. Hold still.” he murmurs, dabbing at Nagisa’s ice-cream-sticky cheeks.

His eyes are just so vibrant and purple up close and from this angle, from this distance, Nagisa thinks she could be forgiven for forgetting how to breathe.

“There, all done!” Rei huffs triumphantly, stepping back to see his work. And then sees the dazed, glassy-eyed look his best friend still sports. “...Nagisa-kun? Is something the matter?”

“Nothing! Absolutely _nothing_ , Rei-chan.” Nagisa says, way too quickly to sound anything but suspicious.

“Huh. Your cheeks were flushed, and your eyes were glazed over...please remember to _inform_ me if you’re coming down with something, Nagisa-kun.” Rei grumbles, frowning at his best friend’s evasiveness, his lower lip jutting out a bit, like Nagisa’s does when she’s the one throwing a fit.

He picked that up from her, and it’s not really something her heart should be skipping a beat over, but it does nonetheless.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry ‘bout it, Rei-chan.”

“Anyway...” Rei mumbles, almost fumbling with the straps of his backpack, “Ehrm. Back to what I was saying.”

Blood rushes to Nagisa’s cheeks again and it is embarrassing, she is the most obvious person _ever_ and Rei’s so smart, why hasn’t he called her on it by now? Maybe he’s just that nice. Rei is just that nice, after all. “Right.”

“If it isn’t too much of a bother to you, I’d like to take you on a date this weekend,” Rei says, calmly, smoothly, as if he weren’t turning Nagisa’s heart into organ slushy with his words. “I shall, as our peers say, ‘ _ask you out_ ’ tomorrow, before the start of homeroom. You sit at the back of our classroom, but that’s all right – sound carries well across classrooms, especially when coming from people like me, who do not normally speak much. That should probably get their attention.”

“And when you say ‘ _they_ ’, you mean...”

“I am, of course, referring to some of our female schoolmates – the ones who keep leaving letters with clashing pastel colors and suspicious feminine undergarments in my shoe locker, in particular.”

“Ah,” Nagisa says, quietly and without feeling. Her ice cream cone is strawberry, her favorite, because of course Rei knows his best friend’s favorite ice cream flavor, and normally Nagisa would be over the moon over his thoughtfulness.

(Actually Rei also knows Nagisa’s birthstone, and favorite flower, and shoe size, and how spectacular the afternoon sunshine looks like when it bounces off her golden yellow hair, but those are things that Rei would rather Nagisa not know he knows about, at least for now.)

But as things are Nagisa doesn’t even notice the pink ice cream melting down her knuckles; only thinks of the existence of girls who are leaving tokens of love in Rei’s shoe locker and how goddamned _frustrated_ she is at not having thought of the idea first.

Okay, maybe she’s _not_ too sad about not coming up with the underwear idea first. That would just be creepy, and Rei wouldn’t like it even if she left her best purple butterfly-print lacy panties in his shoe locker.

...not that Nagisa’s saying she’s got butterfly-print underwear. Or that she bought any such pair so they’d match the black pajama set she has with the purple-butterfly prints, the one that could almost pass for a matching set with the set that, as many sleepovers had let her know, is the one Rei wears to sleep. Nope. Not at all. Nothing like that exactly.

“But if you don’t want to take part in such an activity, I do understand,” Rei backtracks, obviously seeing Nagisa’s resigned facial expression and expecting the worst. “Such a situation would ensue in me making use of our friendship in such a crass manner, of course, and I know I shan’t drag your name into my problems, especially as you would be innocent of any thing they’d inevitably accuse of you…”

“Nah, Rei-chan, it’s no trouble, you can count me in!” Nagisa says, beaming as if her heart weren’t doing drumrolls in her chest. As if there was nothing, absolutely nothing at all, that Rei had to feel guilty about dragging her into.

Because Nagisa knows all too well that the only thing she would be considered innocent of in any court of law would be the crime of _not_ falling in love with Rei Ryugazaki.

.

.

.

The next day, Rei walks up to her desk, no hesitation at all in his easy, measured strides, and delivers his lines perfectly. A million stage directors would have wept in ecstasy, upon seeing how flawlessly he manages to pull off the part of suave boyfriend.

 _He’s gonna make some girl really lucky someday_ , Nagisa thinks, and wrestles away the nagging feeling in her chest that aches because whoever that girl is, surely, her name is not gonna be Nagisa Hazuki. _Ouch_.

“Nagisa-kun,” Rei starts, clearing his throat before he goes on – this makes his voice clearer and attracts the attention of their classmates around them, all at once. _Nice move, Rei-chan_ , Nagisa thinks, a touch of a smile fighting its way to her lips. “Are you free this weekend?”

“This weekend? Of course I’m free, Rei-chan!” Nagisa pipes up, strangely relishing in the way that a good chunk of the class’ female populace is aiming at her with dagger looks. “Why’d you ask? D’you want me to come over so you can nag me to do my homework again?”

Rei pushes up his glasses with one hand, and shoots her a confused look discreetly from behind his palm. Okay, so maybe _that_ wasn’t in their script, but Nagisa just wants to emphasize a few things. Namely that one of the most constant, if not _the_ most constant, visitors to Rei’s actual honest-to-goodness _house_ is _Nagisa_ herself, no one else.

 _Yeah, keep glaring, girls – this isn’t real, but at the very least he takes the train ride home with **me**_. _Eat your heart out._

“I was thinking that we could use more of a change of pace, actually.” Rei says, his hand reaching for the nape of his neck, like Makoto does when he’s embarrassed. There’s a small smile on his face, almost a shy one, like the one he had on when he first called Nagisa ‘ _Nagisa_ - _kun_ ’ and she barreled into him with a hug. “How about we go eat at the restaurant you were talking about the other day, the one with the forty-eight centimeter tall parfait?”

 “That would be lovely, Rei-chan,” Nagisa says, feeling slightly out of breath due to the brilliant, soft smile Rei aims at her with his usual one-hundred-percent precision. _Oh my God, Rei-chan, such attention to detail, wow_.

It’s just too bad that this date is nothing more than a bunch of pretty words – setting aside the fact that Nagisa’s _way_ too in love with Rei to even think of turning down a date with him, Nagisa would very much love to get her hands on that parfait.

(She would also very much _love_ to get her hands on _Rei_ , but that’d probably be asking for too much.)

“Excellent,” Rei says, smoothly and effortlessly as ever, though when he pushes his glasses up again Nagisa thinks she can see the barest hints of a red flush peeking behind Rei’s large hands – had his hands _always_ been that large? Or has Nagisa’s always been this small? What gives? “I’ll pick you up from your house tomorrow morning. Let’s talk about the finer details after swim practice.”

Nagisa would have never thought Rei to be the kind of guy who’d go ask a girl out without tripping over his words, or his feet, or… _anything_ , really, but apparently he _is_ and it’s hopeless because she really didn’t need another reason to fall harder for Rei, Universe, she really did not. So, fearing whatever she might hear herself say if she dared open her mouth (hint: it’ll just take three words, eight letters, and all of Nagisa’s self-confidence), she just nods numbly, forcing back a happy smile to her face so he wouldn’t have to lean in closer and see that her entire body is trembling.

As if Rei had timed their little dialogue with his watch (read: he actually really did), the moment that he walks away from Nagisa’s seat is the exact same moment the bell for homeroom rings. So Rei calculated exactly enough time for the classmates to hear, but not enough time for them to gossip about it.

 _Looks like there’s gonna be a new conversation topic later at lunch today_ , Nagisa thinks, and despite everything some part of her can’t help but feel smug.

.

.

.

Swim practice, locker room; Rei and Makoto always go first, then Haruka and Nagisa. They don’t have separate shower rooms, or locker rooms, but they have doors that lock, so they just take turns. The girls going last is more of a practicality than anything – if Makoto is already dressed and ready to go home, it’d be easier for him to reason with Haruka to not jump in the pool again. So the boys are inside, and Nagisa is sitting at poolside, a thoughtful look in her eyes; Haruka is still soaking in the pool.

This lull is when Haruka speaks up, in her soft, quiet voice that still manages to be no less direct – “I heard you and Rei were going on a date.”

Nagisa cheeks are as red as the spectacle frames Rei favors and she doesn’t really seem to be breathing. Normally Haruka would be worried about her, but Nagisa draws breath, seemingly regains her bearings, and smiles. “So you heard about it, huh?”

“There’s a reason why I don’t like washrooms. Too _noisy_. People like talking in there, as if they can’t do so anywhere else...he’s taking you for ice cream?” Haruka cocks her head, probably without realizing she’s done so. “But doesn’t he always?”

Nagisa colors a deeper red than had been thought humanly possible. “Yeah, but this time he’s not. I mean, he just said that so the girls who keep nagging him would stop – did you really think Rei was gonna take me to Tokyo? We’re not dating, yanno.”

Haruka does this little snort-breath that pushes her bangs out of her eyes. “Don’t be silly. You’ve _always_ been dating, Nagisa.”

“ _Haru-chan–!_ ”

“Nagisa-kun? Haruka- _senpai_? Is there something the matter?”

“ _!!!!_ ” As he had been asking Rei had put his hand on Nagisa’s bare shoulder, he _always_ does this, they’re _friends_ after all – but today there’s a full jolt that passes through Nagisa’s entire body, as if she were electrocuted, and the force of it knocks her backwards into the pool again.

Makoto, who had just pulled Haruka out of the pool (their usual routine: _“Good work today, Haru-chan.” “Don’t start. Or...” “Or what?” “Or I’ll call you Mako-chan, too.” “I guess I can live with that.”_ ) looks at a flailing Nagisa and a dry Rei who wants to jump in with every bone in his body, and calls out, “Nagisa, do you want me to help you out of there?”

Nagisa colors red at this and manages to cling onto a pool edge (God, as if she couldn’t be more of a child) at the same time Rei huffs, sets down his backpack on the chair usually reserved for Amakata-sensei, and says, “No, Makoto- _senpai_ , I’ve got this.” in the confident, take-no-charges tone of his that is quickly becoming one of Nagisa’s favorites.

Rei offers Nagisa his hand, with a smile that almost but not-almost reminds her of Makoto, and the pillow-soft smile he often saves for Haruka, and this is normally where Nagisa would flush red and dunk her head in the pool to let out an underwater torrent of flustered bubbles but if she were to do that now Rei would be suspicious, and he’s suspicious of her enough already.

“Good work today, Nagisa-kun,” Rei tells her, that soft smile still resplendent on his face. The day is cool, but his hands are warm, and much, _much_ larger than hers. This shouldn’t make Nagisa blush, but it _does_.

Somewhere in between the time Rei steadies Nagisa’s feet as she steps onto the poolside, and when he starts towelling off her hair, Nagisa forgets how to breathe. “Rei-chan, are you trying to imitate Mako-chan?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Rei shrugs, tugging a stray lock of hair behind Nagisa’s ear, a small smile on his face, looking...

 _Sassy_. Rei’s _always_ been sassy – kind of why he gets along with Rin so well, birds of a feather and all; he’s not _flirting_ , that’s for sure, and so Nagisa shouldn’t be dropping her soap in the shower thinking about his hands and his words and his _smile_.

Haruka, who had until then been standing quietly under the shower head, eyes closed, speaks up when Nagisa drops her soap for the ninth time. “You should just tell him.”

Has Nagisa _always_ been this obvious? Or is this just a one-time thing, hot on the heels of Rei asking her to be his ( _fake_ ) girlfriend and asking her out on a ( _fake_ ) date and how his hands were ( _really_ ) the warmest she’s ever felt them? “Yeah, like you’re one to talk, Haru-chan.”

“I think the two of you are _ridiculous_.” Haruka deadpans, and leaves it at that.

.

.

.

They’ve just waved goodbye to Haruka and Makoto on the train out of Iwatobi when Rei speaks. “When I said I needed to talk to you after swim practice earlier, I _really_ meant to do so, Nagisa-kun.” he says, his cheeks slightly flushed by the cold.

“ _Oh_ ,” Nagisa mutters, softly, because when they were walking to the train station Makoto and Rei had been chatting about so-and-so, then Makoto had whispered something into Rei’s ear and Nagisa had watched Rei’s cheeks turn warm at whatever the other man had told him. If this had to be the day that Rei asked her for help about the feelings he might have for Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa might just cry a river and _die_.

_Maybe I should tell Haru-chan about my plans...she would like to swim in my river of angst for sure. Rin-chan too. Maybe between the two of us, we could cry a whole entire ocean. Haru-chan would be pleased._

“What time would you want me to pick you up tomorrow, Nagisa-kun?” Rei says, cutting cleanly through the hysterics of Nagisa’s mind theater, and an imaginary Haruka swimming aimlessly through an ocean of tears she and an imaginary Rin contribute to.

“Huh? Pick me up...you don’t have to do that, Rei-chan, we don’t have classes tomorrow!” Nagisa says, trying to put on the likeness of her usual sunny smile. “Don’t you have plans?” _With Mako-chan, maybe_ , Nagisa thinks bitterly, the smile almost slipping of her face. She’s never thought of herself to be the jealous type, but here she is.

Rei levels Nagisa with a serious expression that tells her he has had enough of her crap, which is weird because Nagisa can’t see where he plans to go with this. “ _Of course_ I have plans. With _you_. Did I not make them clear, when I spoke to you before homeroom?”

 _Oh, right_ , Nagisa thinks, and before she can take it back she’s clutching at her chest and guffawing bitterly. Just her luck that the one time Rei actually gets a sense of humor, he jokes about the one thing the Universe seems to like holding over her head. She’s Rei’s best friend, but she’s in love with him. People think they’re together, but they aren’t. He says things that make her swoon like an old-school paperback-romance heroine, but it’s Makoto who makes his cheeks flush red.

“Why are you laughing, Nagisa-kun?”

“Because – _hahaha_!” Nagisa says, wiping away a tear with her hands. The good thing about laughing so hard you can’t breathe is that even when you cry whilst doing so, nobody thinks it’s because you’re sad. “ _Seriously_ , Rei-chan, that was funny. You said you needed to _act like_ you were gonna ask me out – not that you were _really_ gonna take me to ice cream, right?”

“If you must know, Nagisa-kun,” Rei says, somberly, all too somberly for someone who’s reading a book with a purple-butterfly print book cover (title: _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ , a Christmas gift from Nagisa that she shan’t know he actually reads), “I don’t do anything in halves.”

Calming down from her laughter-sobbing fit, Nagisa looks at Rei and sees. Sees that he flinches away from her, as if struck, and it’s another stab to the heart. Rei had told her, months ago, that he’s never had a best friend before. What if Rei only really wanted to go hang out in Tokyo with her like best friends usually do, like he’s never had the chance to do, and she acts standoffish and awkward when he brings up the idea? He’ll obviously think she doesn’t want to spend time with him, and get sad like he does now.

And it’d be unfair – it’s not his fault that Nagisa fell in love with him and feels jealous and bitter about things. So Nagisa blinks twice, takes a deep breath, and says, “I think you could come over after ten.”

“Nagisa-kun...?” Rei says, stunned. Which is to be expected – Nagisa had acted as if she were against the plan earlier – why is she agreeing _now_? Nagisa sees the small sliver of guilt snaking its way into Rei’s expression – probably thinking something along the lines of her accepting in _pity_ – and thinks she gotta make this right if it’s the last thing she ever does.

“I don’t do anything in halves either, Rei-chan,” Nagisa quips, beaming so wide her cheeks hurt, even as her chest keeps screaming for things she knows she has no right to ask for. She doesn’t even know if she’s talking about the fake date plan, or about how damned committed she is to being Rei’s BFF and help him with guys or girls he’ll end up liking even if it hurts her – only that it’s _Rei_ and when it comes to him Nagisa will never not be at her best for him.

The smile that Rei gives her in return is so blindingly _bright_ that Nagisa finds herself asking what good thing had she done to deserve this man, because it must’ve been _really_ good and it’s just too bad ‘cause she doesn’t think she remembers it.

“It’s a date, then,” Rei says, as Nagisa prepares to disembark a few minutes later, and Nagisa feels the smile on his lips when Rei reaches down to kiss her hand.

And if Nagisa had thought Rei’s _hands_ were warm, his _lips_ were even warmer.

Needless to say, on her way home Nagisa trips over three gaps in the sidewalk, bumps into two vending machines, and almost steps on a cat.

Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.

.

.

.

Nagisa actually _does_ have an outfit for today. She bought it on a shopping trip a month ago, and hasn’t worn it since – the truth is that this ensemble reminds her of Rei, just like everything reminds her of Rei, and in her wildest dreams where she really was his _girlfriend_ and they were really on a _date_ she’d be wearing this outfit that looks very much like something Rei would wear, and Rei would tell her she looked beautiful and kiss her on the cheek.

She clutched at her chest. Even _thinking_ of what could never be hurt like hell, who would’ve known. _Falling in unrequited love: gives palpitations and chest pain, destroys perfectly wonderful friendships, 0/10, would wish on archenemy._

But what the hell, it’s a perfectly lovely outfit, with the cute pink bow on the back of her waistcoat, and after spending the past week in school uniform miniskirts right now Nagisa’s in the mood for something longer. So she wears it anyway.

“Looking _sharp_ , Nagi-chan.” Izumi whistles, as he pauses the video game that he, Umi, and Mizuki are playing. “Going on a date?”

“ _Cram it_ , Izumi- _nii_.” Nagisa grumbles, thanking how she’s never really been one for makeup – if she had gone down the stairs with anything more than lip gloss and cheek tint on her face, her brothers would’ve been on her case quicker than vultures on a corpse. “Who got the door?”

“Mum did,” Umi yawns, going back to his video game. “You know how she likes having your _boyfriend_ over –”

“Rei-chan is _not_ my boyfriend!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Mizuki drawls, swiping a handful of chips out of Izumi’s hands, “Denial is the first step an’all that.”

“You are _all_ horrible big brothers, and I _hate_ you.”

“Likewise.” Izumi says, unpausing the game, setting forth a flurry of button-pressing. “Have fun on your _not_ -date with your _not_ -boyfriend, little sister.”

“I wish you choke on a bunch of chips,” Nagisa grumbles, stomping out of the living room, shoe straps dangling off one of her fingers.

.

.

.

 _To be continued_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** Part two will definitely take a long time before it gets written up, but basically Rei takes Nagisa on a date and it all unravels from there. Hope you liked reading this!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The first thing that Rei remembers thinking when he sees her: Wow._  
>  The first thing that Rei actually tells her, with a smile and a shy little half-body shrug: “We match, Nagisa-kun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This sappy fic now has an equally sappy playlist to match!](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6JKe1aYieCOFvR6Iy0FAW8qcyHtuPdSS) On Youtube because 8tracks is kinda not working for me today. It's 75% classic OPM and I regret nothing.  
> [Here's a link to the tumblr post!](http://patriciaselina.tumblr.com/post/91255494716/stand-by-me-rei-ryugazaki-x-fem-nagisa-hazuki)

Afternoon, on the way to the train station. Makoto had pulled him aside, leaned into his ear, and whispered, “Or...you could just _tell_ her, you know.”

Rei’s cheeks had flooded with red before he could have half a mind to stop himself. Does Makoto really, _seriously_ think that he actually accidentally _forgot_ that that was a plausible option?

.

.

.

The first thing that Rei remembers thinking when he sees her: _Wow_.

The first thing that Rei actually tells her, with a smile and a shy little half-body shrug: “We match, Nagisa-kun.”

And they do, which makes the flush on Nagisa’s face go to near-incandescent levels. Rei and Nagisa are wearing simple waistcoats with slim lapels, short-sleeved button-down shirts underneath. The only difference is that Nagisa’s waistcoat has a bow perched on the back part of its waistline. They’re even wearing similarly colored pants, and just as Nagisa realizes that, she hears Rei’s laugh.

His laugh sounds like music, she thinks, and suddenly wants to smack herself upside the head because love makes her sappy and it’s _embarrassing_. As if she weren’t embarrassing _enough_.

“What’s so _funny_ , Rei-chan?” Nagisa snaps, her cheeks still warmed by the facts that Rei finds this coincidence funny, and that when he had looked at her his eyes were the softest she’d seen them.

“Nothing, nothing. I just think it nice that we match perfectly.” _Beautifully_ , Rei’s mind insists, but he lets that thought stay unspoken. “Shall we go?”

“Yeah, sure, let’s go!” Nagisa says, trying very hard not to squeak or squeal or get the happy vapors when Rei _takes her hand_ and hooks her arm snugly in the crook of his elbow. “See ya later, Ma!”

“Have fun Nagisa, Rei-kun...” Nagisa’s mother says, beaming at both of them and finally honing into Rei’s direction. “...wait a sec. Rei-kun, I know she doesn’t seem like such, but for what it’s worth, Nagisa’s our precious and only girl, and I trust that you’ll take care of her. Okay?”

“Whaddya mean ‘ _for what it’s worth_ ’!?” Nagisa bristles, sounding affronted, if only to not turn into a pile of mush just because her mum called her ‘ _precious_ ’, what is _up_ with people today, why are they all so _sappy_.

“Worry not, Hazuki-san,” Rei beams back, covering Nagisa’s hand on his arm with his own. “For what it’s worth, I shall take _full_ responsibility for Nagisa-kun and her well-being on our outing today.”

Nagisa’s mum raises one perfectly-sculpted eyebrow, obviously drawing her conclusions – it’s not as if she knew that the phrase ‘ _taking responsibility’_ was her and Rei’s silly little inside joke, and between the goddamned intensity of the fond gaze Rei throws her and the full-body blush Nagisa seems to be wearing right about now, it looks as if they were preparing for something _more_ permanent than a _not_ -date in a Tokyo café.

“All right,” Nagisa’s mom says, opening the door for them. “So long as you know that.”

.

.

.

“So what, Rei-chan,” Nagisa says, taking in the spectacular sight as it stands tall in front of her. She never really expected it to be that _large_ up close. She swallows. “What should we do next?”

“To be completely honest with you,” Rei murmurs distractedly, his cheeks pink for some reason, looking at Nagisa and the look of determination gracing her pretty face with something that could almost be called _awe_. “I did not exactly think this through.”

“Neither did I,” Nagisa murmurs, half anxious, half excited. “Guess there’s nothing left for us to do but go ahead?”

“ _Please_ ,” Rei says, watching with bated breath, as Nagisa reaches out, and _pulls_.

“...ow.”

“Nagisa-kun,” Rei says, slowly, carefully, disbelievingly, his lips quivering with the start of a chuckle, “Did you just _injure_ yourself on an ice cream cone?”

“I – I can’t help it, okay?” Nagisa snaps back, glaring. Was it her fault that this too-damned-tall parfait has extremely frozen ice cream? Was it her fault that her arm muscles cramped in pulling the first ice cream out, as a direct consequence? Was it her fault that trying to dismantle parfaits under the watchful and surprisingly _hot_ gaze of Rei Ryugazaki is a skill that has yet to be learned by modern man?

“Geez, this is embarrassing. Here I go for the second one...”

“Nagisa-kun, let _me_.” Rei says, and though his voice sounds soft – like it always does when he’s around Nagisa; does she even _notice_ this? – his voice brooks no argument. So there really is nothing left for Nagisa to do but chuck the first ice cream cone – vanilla with strawberry sauce and sprinkles – onto one of the cute heart-shaped plates that Nagisa is definitely _not_ gonna think of attempting minor larceny for, nope.

Right now Rei’s doing this little twisty thing with his wrist and it shows off the lean muscles of his arms; Nagisa bites her lip, looks away, and to distract herself instead thinks about how sloppily Gou would’ve sobbed in happiness if she were here to see this. As it were the other female patrons sitting around them sigh, and Nagisa kinda wants to punch a lot of people right about now.

Would actually _dare_ to punch one of them right now, especially if that one girl sitting by the far corner would go and walk over to give Rei the paper napkin in her hands – it’s probably got her _number_ scribbled on it – and with the way Nagisa’s fists are clenched underneath the table, _seriously_ , it wouldn’t really take much for her to go berserk.

It’s only when he speaks that Nagisa realizes Rei had already pulled out the second ice cream cone, and watches it comes loose with a satisfying _pop!_ “Earlier, I had thought that I could get you a different parfait, the one that was named after that boy band. The one that sung for _Hana yori dango_?”

“Ufufu~ Rei-chan, I never knew you were up-to-date with the romcoms.”

“Don’t be _daft_ , Nagisa-kun. It just so happens to be the DVD that we always catch Makoto- _senpai_ and Rin-san watch when we come over to visit Makoto- _senpai_ ten minutes earlier.” Rei sighs, setting the ice cream cone – still vanilla, still with sprinkles, with chocolate sauce this time – onto a second plate. “To be honest, hearing them deny watching it is getting very old.”

“Rin-chan’s _always_ been a sappy romantic. Mako-chan too. You see why they get along, huh.”

“ _Exactly_.” Rei says, smiling a bit, and it’s a true testament to how much of a good friend Nagisa is, that she keeps on smiling, even though in reality she’s completely pissed off because Rei’s thinking about Makoto _again_ and he’s smiling like a lovestruck fool again and he’ll never smile for her like that and it _sucks_ , why does _everyone_ have to goddamned fall in love with Makoto Tachibana.

Actually, Nagisa also _kinda_ fell in love with Makoto, too. But that was in grade school. When she didn’t know Rei and didn’t know any better. Now, she doesn’t know this, but – this is something that Rei should’ve been made aware of; could’ve saved him a _lot_ of grief.

“Nagisa-kun, are you all right?”

“Me? Uh, yeah, of course I am, Rei-chan.” Nagisa says, trying on different kinds of fake smiles like Haruka does swimsuits. “Why’d you ask?”

“…no reason, actually.” Rei mumbles, looking away from Nagisa and her sparkling eyes that could quite possibly be the death of him someday. Must she really stare at him so _intensely_? “Anyway, about what I had been saying.”

“Uh-huh?”

“The other parfait has a flimsy crepe folded on top, which is then topped by an entire cheesecake slice, and an entire upside-down cone of ice cream. It even comes with four cream puffs. It defies logic – which is why, had you not been distracted by the novelty of this, I think you would’ve wanted to have that one instead.” Rei smiles a small, barely-there smile, setting the parfait’s lonely cherry carefully down on the glass of ice cream ringed with bananas and strawberries, and pushing it Nagisa’s direction. “Maybe next time. Eat up, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa nods, eyes downcast as she swallows spoonful after spoonful if ice cream, because she knows there _won’t_ be a next time.

.

.

.

“Nagisa-kun,” Rei gasps, in between halting breaths, peering at her and her shining eyes from within the circle of his arms.

 ** _God_** _is she beautiful_ , Rei thinks, _but this is **not** the time for that_.

“ _Why_.”

“Eh, I just thought it’d be fun,” Nagisa says, popping another chip in her mouth, looking as innocent as the cat that caught the canary. “Don’t you like psychological flicks too, Rei-chan?”

“There’s a _difference_ , Nagisa-kun,” Rei says, bravely keeping his voice level, despite his heart rate feeling exactly the opposite, both due to the damned movie and the damnable feelings Rei has for his best friend. “between psychological thriller movies, which I _can_ get behind, and -”

The sound of a chainsaw whirrs across the cinema’s surround sound, as well as a piercing scream. On screen, someone has just lost an arm. Rei scrunches his eyes shut and definitely does _not_ feel tears springing to his face with the effort, he does _not_. Nagisa wants to hug him anyway.

“- and _this_. Injuries are not even _supposed_ to bleed that way.”

“Aw, but she just lost an _arm_ , Rei-chan!”

“Yes, I am aware of that, I am _perfectly_ aware of that,” Rei says, his eyes still stubbornly screwed shut, and it shows off his dark lashes really nicely and makes Nagisa’s breath hitch. “But earlier, when they were getting minor injuries, the way the ‘ _blood_ ’ reacted was _obviously_ fake. From the blood spatters alone, I could see that...”

Rei launches into a long diatribe about synthetic blood and realism and old-fashioned squibs, and somewhere in the middle of it someone shushes him and Nagisa shushes them back because even with his eyes closed Rei makes the most adorable expressions when he rattles on and on like that, and Nagisa doesn’t get a thing of what he’s saying but she doesn’t mind, she’d still let him go on like that because this, _this_ is how far she’s gone.

As Rei’s just about to enumerate his conclusions he feels something warm wrap around his hand, and it stops his train of thought in its tracks, leaving it to veer off and spontaneously combust in the face of the reality that Nagisa is _here_ and she’s _holding his **hand**_.

“ _Nagisa-kun_?”

“It’s the least I can do,” Nagisa mutters. Had Rei opened his eyes he would’ve seen how brightly Nagisa’s cheeks were flushed, that he could have seen their color, even in the darkness of the cinema. “So if you’re still scared, you can squeeze my hand. Not too hard, though, or I’ll squeeze _back_ , and I grew up with three big brothers and can squeeze a _hell_ of a lot, believe me.”

Nagisa _knows_ she’s babbling. It’s a bad habit of hers, especially when she has to spend so much time around Rei Ryugazaki.

What she doesn’t know is that, upon hearing her words, a small smile curls around the corners of Rei’s lips, and a rush of raw, happy feeling floods his heart until he can’t even breathe without aching.

“I’m not _scared_ ,” Rei insists, stubbornly. But he doesn’t let go of Nagisa’s hand anyway.

.

.

.

“I cannot _believe_ I am actually going to do this.”

“Aw, Rei-chan, _live_ a little!” Nagisa says, fluffing her hair and pinching her cheeks, as if she didn’t look pretty and radiant already, but of course she doesn’t know, because these are two of the many things Rei does not tell her. “If we’re gonna call this thing we’re on a date, then we _gotta_ get _purikura_! It’s almost a rule!”

“I – I don’t remember seeing that in any of my research,” Rei grumbles, and this is a _lie_ – Rei actually knows that a great number of dates, fake or otherwise, involve _purikura_. It’s just that he couldn’t ever be expected to be left alone with a picture of Nagisa without losing his mind. The picture from the relay had been evidence enough – no day had ever passed where he did not turn the picture over and over in his hands and remember how _warm_ Nagisa’s hand had felt against his chest as she took him by his jacket and dragged him into the frame.

Now, Nagisa almost colors red upon hearing that Rei had done _research_ on _dating_ – but then she remembers that this is Rei who once did research on mackerel habitation and migration, for _fun_. Just because Haru said she’d rather raise mackerel than marry – but that if she would marry, she’d marry Makoto, because he’d _at least_ allow her to raise mackerel – Makoto’s expression had been priceless. So she doesn’t blush, only scoots closer to Rei so they’re shoulder to shoulder, and flashes a peace sign and all of her teeth. “ _Smile_ , Rei-chan!”

It’s somewhere between their second shot and the third that Nagisa realizes that Rei is smiling a small bashful smile and doesn’t seem to know what to do with his hands. “Aw, Rei-chan, strike a pose! I _know_ you can, I mean, when we went swimsuit shopping, and then when we did that recuitment skit -”

“ _Please_ don’t remind me,” Rei sighs, pressing a palm to his face like he usually did when confronted with silliness all around, and Nagisa grins and takes that picture, too. Rei splutters at that, eventually regains his composure, and goes on saying, “I am aware that none of those poses are _appropriate_ to our situation.”

“Then,” Nagisa starts, swallows, and braces herself because even if the dull _thump-thump-thump_ ing of her heart is _real_ this date sure as hell _isn’t_ so she better make the most of it. She wraps her arms around Rei’s shoulders, looking into his eyes, and she’s too busy listening to her heart beat wildly in her chest that she doesn’t notice Rei doing the exact same thing. “Maybe you’re just not thinking creatively enough.”

They’re millimeters away from nose-to-nose now, waiting for the timer to go off, and Rei has to recite the periodic table _in reverse_ in his head to stop himself from leaning in closer because this is _Nagisa_ , his _best friend_ , and no matter what happens – no matter how much Rei _wants_ her, he still _needs_ her, needs her to be in his life, and as such he does _not_ want to lose her.

But somewhere in the middle of reciting noble gases Makoto’s words nag at him – “ _You could just **tell** her, you know_ ,” – and he does want to, he _really_ does, but he’s not brave enough to make that decision.

What happens next, however, is merely because while Rei’s words _aren’t_ up for the challenge, his body _is_. Nagisa barely sees the irises of Rei’s eyes darken before he’s leaning in, closer than Nagisa’d ever dreamed he’d be before.

She tastes sweeter than any dessert he’d ever known of, and it would have been worth it, _absolutely_ worth it, especially for that handful of seconds where she loses herself in the moment, pulls him closer, and actually kisses him _back_.

But then as soon as the camera goes off Nagisa Hazuki pulls away, eyes glimmering with tears, and slaps him, full on the face.

.

.

.

Afternoon finds them at Lotteria, where Nagisa goes through a twelve-patty cheeseburger like a sushi chef’s knife through a block of melting butter, driven by fear and self-loathing and absolute _rage_ and Nagisa knows the Universe likes playing jokes on her but this is just too much. Right now the Universe is a harsh little piece of crap and right now Nagisa would punch it, seriously.

“ _Nagisa-kun_ -” Rei starts, his own modest shrimp sandwich untouched in front of him, “Nagisa-kun, _wait_ , I really think we should talk -”

“There’s _nothing_ to talk about,” Nagisa grumbles over a burger patty, trying to focus on licking the grease off her fingers so she doesn’t pay too much attention to the tears threatening to burst from her eyes. “Rei-chan’s just a better actor than I expected.”

Those words are a rusty serrated blade through Rei’s heart and he knows he has to make this right, absolutely has to, not just because he still wants to live to see tomorrow but because he now knows he had been dragging this on for too long. “I _wasn’t_ acting, Nagisa-kun, to be honest with you I -”

“ _Ha_!” Nagisa snaps, bitterly, snapping the plastic knife she had been using to spread mustard cleanly in one hand. Rei feels _extremely_ threatened for his life right about now. “If you’re gonna be honest with me, then _fine_. Tell me. How long did you know?”

“Pardon?”

“How long did you know that I _liked_ you, Rei-chan?” Nagisa says, slowly, carefully, vitriol dripping gaudily down each word, “And how long were you waiting to pull some crappy prank like this so you can hold it over my head?”

“Nagisa-kun, please listen to me, pranking you was _not_ my intention -”

“Was it a _bet_ , then?” Nagisa asks, hysterical humorless laughter creeping into her tone, “Did you have a bet with someone, betting that you can have me swooning after you with moves you’d picked up from a, from a cheap magazine, and were you thinking of spending your proceeds on a lovely date with your _beloved_ Mako -”

“ _Nagisa-kun_ ,” Rei says, raising his voice well enough that it makes the people around them swivel heads, “There was _never_ any bet, nor any plan, or any sort of damned collusion with Makoto- _senpai_ ,” Pushing up his glasses, his shoulders squared and his brows crossed, Rei looks like the very epitome of a frustrated, agitated man, and normally that’d make Nagisa stop and _think_ , but right now her heart is in shambles at her feet and she doesn’t give a crap about how imposing a figure Rei strikes right about now; she’d _probably_ still punch him.

“Then what _was_ it, then, huh?”

“ _All there was_ -” Rei realizes he had been speaking too loud, and so he bites his lip, lowers his voice so only Nagisa could hear him, “All there was, was that I kissed you, because I have _always_ been in love with you, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa’s throat feels dry, her eyes and fingers icky with unshed tears and burger grease, and she seems to have forgotten how to breathe.

As if reading her mind, Rei wrenches his eyes away from her trembling lip – _wrenches_ , because even the mere act of looking away from her is _painful_ , now – and looks down at the untouched plastic cup beside her. “Drink your soda. I’ll explain.”

This Nagisa does, her mind too busy rebooting to process anything other than simple instructions.

“I don’t know when I fell in love with you,” Rei says, carefully, once he’d ascertained that nobody was paying them attention anymore, determinedly fixing his eyes on Nagisa, who keeps averting her gaze. “I mean – all those romance stories keep saying I should. I don’t. It’s just that ever since we met I’ve always woke up in the morning and wanted to see you, and so when it changed...I really don’t know. But I think -” Rei breaks off, scratches his nape in embarrassment, “- I _think_ , when Rin-san brushed you off during our first joint practice, I might’ve had a crush on you even then.”

“It’s not _just_ a crush any longer, though,” Rei says, fiddling with the plastic straw on his softdrink cup, some part of his mind enjoying how Nagisa’s eyes seem to be glued onto his fingers. “And it scares me. It _really_ does. Which is why I didn’t want to tell you, but – well – there it is.”

He reaches across the table to tip her face up, so they’d be looking at each other properly. Even with her hair mussed up (his fault, it seems his hands actually did know what to do with themselves), her cheeks flushed, her lips shiny with burger grease, and tears falling slowly down her eyes, Rei still thinks her the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“ _I love you_ , Nagisa-kun. And I’m _really_ sorry I stole a kiss off you.”

There’s a rather long pause after that, where they just look at each other, and it’s good thing that Nagisa eventually speaks up because if she didn’t Rei’s pretty sure he’d have buried his face in his hands and showed her how unbeautiful his blubbering sobs sounded like.

“It had always been _yours_ to take,” Nagisa mumbles, softly, her cheeks finally flushed with something other than anger, as choirs of angels sing from somewhere within Rei’s ribcage. “but I would’ve liked it better if you had told me.”

“I know this now,” Rei says, one hand growing braver and tucking stray curls of blond hair behind her ears. “And I’d like to make it up to you, if I can.”

The sassiness of Nagisa’s one raised eyebrow has to be seen to be believed. “Really? _How_?”

“Well,” Rei says, his voice dripping into honeyed, darker notes that Nagisa has not heard before and suddenly want to hear more of, “I can think of _some_ ways...”

Just as his nose brushes Nagisa’s own, however, she pushes him gently away with one greasy finger.

“ _What_ ,” Rei groans, sounding more embarrassed than affronted, which Nagisa honestly finds endearing. And she can tell him so. Later, maybe. But first...

“Not _right now_ ,” she says, her teary face illuminated from within with a grin that could warp the fabric of time and space itself. “Maybe wait until I’m no longer icky and greasy gross, huh?”

“You’ll never be gross to me,” Rei murmurs against Nagisa’s finger, but when they pull apart this time, both of them are wearing their brightest smiles.


	3. Epilogue

Her arm in his once more, a lightness gracing both their steps, Rei walks over to the display and says, “All right, I’m getting you this.”

“That’s nice, but -” Nagisa says, her face coloring a brilliant red, “But Rei-chan, isn’t this, I dunno, moving a bit too _fast_?”

“You don’t _have_ to wear it. It’s just – well, on my last birthday, you got me a watch with penguins on it.” Rei conveniently does _not_ say that the reason why this watch does not see the light of day is because he keeps it in its box underneath his pillow and tries not to squeal over it like a little baby every night.

“That was – well, Rei-chan, thanks, but isn’t this a bit, I dunno, too _expensive_?”

“Your birthday is coming up next month, isn’t it? Think of this as my gift for that, if that makes you more comfortable.”

“But still...”

“Na-gi-sa- _kun_ ,” Rei says, frowning an oddly adorable frown, “If you seriously think that I’d think of cost-cutting around my own girlfriend’s birthday, then I just might have a reason to be _cross_ with you.”

It happens to be the first time Rei refers to her as his girlfriend, and Nagisa’s face feels like a forest fire.

“Too soon?” Rei asks meekly, as realization strikes him in turn.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Nagisa says, squeezing Rei’s arm and trying not to squeal Gou-style because _oh my **god** this is a thing I can do now, I can squeeze his **bicep** and it won’t be creepy at **all**!_ “If you’re cool with it, then it’s fine by me, too.”

It’s really a pretty nice, an understated thin silver band topped with a silver butterfly, its wings accented by stones matching the pink tint of Nagisa’s eyes. When Rei slips it onto her slim finger, his hand trembles and he tries very hard not to think about doing the same motion in a venue more solemn than a shopping mall department store, because yeah that’d _definitely_ be moving _way_ too soon. “It looks _beautiful_ on you, Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa smiles back, and Rei’s about to take the box and go pay. She’s about to follow suit, but then she notices something.

An exact match for the one she now has, only slightly bigger and with different stones inset.

Later, Nagisa slips the ring on Rei’s finger, and before he can open his mouth to protest – wasn’t _Nagisa_ the one who said the ring was too pricey? – she reaches over to press a kiss to his reddening cheek.

“We _match_ , Rei-chan,” Nagisa says, mirroring his words from earlier this morning. Had it really _just_ been this morning? It feels so far away. “And I think it nice that we match _perfectly_.”

“I feel _exactly_ the same,” Rei confesses, squeezing Nagisa’s hand, which happens to fit snugly in between the spaces of his own.

.

.

.

When they show up at school that Monday with matching rings, they’d like to say they’ve surprised everyone. But the truth is – while they did make some of Rei’s more committed fangirls _cry_ – _nobody_ was surprised at all.

“Called it,” Haru says, with the barest hints of a smirk when they meet at lunch, and Rei sighs as Nagisa – his red-cheeked, actual _girlfriend_ – flings a water bottle their senpai’s direction in the hopes of keeping her quiet.

(Spoiler alert: it _works_. Rei never doubted Nagisa again.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The jewelry Rei buys is the same ring he’s wearing in the really attractive new standee of him wearing a waistcoat and a blue scarf. The idea for buying couple rings also comes from WGM, however.

**Author's Note:**

>  Rei and Nagisa’s outfits are basically the same – collared buttondowns, dark pants, nice dark shoes – save for the fact that Rei’s waistcoat is a deep, dark purple, and Nagisa’s is a nice dark pink with a bow in the back. Nagisa’s shoes are also a lot strappier, and have a lot more of a heel to them. This is based off the Yonghwa-Seohyun couple’s first date in  _We Got Married_ , where they unintentionally dressed the same. (my yonghwa got married and I AM IN PAIN eugh)
> 
> [The café Rei and Nagisa go to is  _Caf_ _é Est! Est!_  The parfait they had was  _EST48_](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/03/11/tokyo-cafe-says-the-best-ice-cream-topping-is-two-more-ice-cream-cones/); the one that Rei thought of buying Nagisa was  _Arashi ~Love so sweet~_.
> 
>  _Hana yori dango_  refs are the best; they give me reasons to shoehorn in Mako and Rin’s Jdrama-watching dates. Also: as far as those three are concerned the endgame is actually Marinka – but alternately, in the time frame of this fic, you can also see it as pre-MakoRin, or pre-MakoHaru, or pre-RinHaru, because either way you’d still be right.
> 
> [Lotteria actually  _does_  have a twelve-layer burger. Or, it  _could_  have one, at least when the Tower Cheeseburger thing was still running](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/10/05/lotterias-tower-cheeseburger-returns-and-it-brought-friends-value-shrimp-and-puns/). Rei’s shrimp burger is here too!


End file.
